Help, I don’t feel confident in front of the camera!
Psst… we’ll let you into a secret – you’re not the only one.
We’ve looked back at over 100 photoshoots to work out who we thought was confident about being in front of the camera when we first met them and who wasn’t. Well, guess what? We reckon around 80% of people were NOT very confident when they started. Some had pre-photoshoot nerves, but most were either not very confident about what to do in front of the camera, or a surprising majority were not very confident in themselves and their appearance. If you were to look at the photos of these people you’d think “Wow, they look so natural and confident!” Yet the reality at the start of their photoshoot was completely the opposite.
So if this applies to you – don’t worry, you’re actually in the majority.
We know what it’s like – we all want great photos but, unless we’re a model who does this on a regular basis, we just fumble when in front of a camera – perhaps some of these things might ring a bell:
- How should I stand?
- What do I do with my feet?
- Where should I put my hands?
- Should I smile? But, wait, I’m not sure I like smiling in photos! Oh, so you DO want me to smile occasionally. But I’m not sure how I feel about my smile.
- But what do you mean ‘natural’?
- Relax! How can I?
You’ll probably ask yourself many of these questions – just like so many who’ve who’ve been in front of our camera before you.
What do we do to help increase your confidence?
We’ve worked with so many people before that we know what you’re going through – and because of our experience we know how to help you relax. We find people often go through these feelings during our photoshoots:
The first 5 mins:
- you’re likely to be unsure of the location, the photographer, whether you’ve chosen the right outfit – basically, everything you could possibly be unsure of will probably be running through your mind,
- we therefore start our photoshoots by spending a few minutes doing nothing but having some idle chit-chat between us,
- no photos at this stage – just some general chatting about anything at all,
- we do this as a way of breaking the ice a bit – so that we’re all a little less like a bunch of strangers,
- we’ll also find out whether there’s anything you do or don’t like about photos of yourself that you’ve seen in the past – some people hate their left side, others hate their right, whilst others don’t care – that way we can jump right in and adapt as we go, so you get more comfortable very quickly.
The next 20-30 minutes:
- at this point you’re probably feeling the least confident in yourself and the photoshoot – and very uncertain,
- this is where we take over and direct you about what you should do – you just need to follow our directions,
- once we get the camera out we’ll start with some fixed poses that we know will look good, so that you don’t need to do any thinking about where and how to stand – we’ll tell you,
- as we start getting some great photos we’ll show you some of these on the back of the camera as we go,
- sometimes people will say “I don’t like myself in that pose” (which helps us quickly move on to what you do like),
- but with most people they start to become impressed at how good we can make them look in a short space of time – often people will say “Wow, yes you’re right, I do look good in that”,
- as we go through this phase you’ll begin to realise it’s all a lot more relaxing and easy than you original feared.
The last half of the photoshoot:
- you’ll be please to hear that by this stage you’ll have much greater confidence and you’ll actually start enjoying yourself,
- during this stage some people are still happy to let us direct them with more poses and guidance, which we’re very happy to do,
- but with most people, this is where we find they’re happy trying out more adventurous things that we might suggest, or they might have their own ideas that they want to try out,
- because, by now, we’ve already spent a while working together, you’ll feel very safe and trusting by this stage, which usually means you’re happy to try some new poses and some fun stuff.
Some final words:
Remember, you’re in the hands of an expert – so relax, we know what we’re doing. But don’t just take our word for it – here are some of our customer reviews where customers described how they felt.
